Money, money and more money
Mohinder Singh

Money, money, money. Everyone wants it, wants it more than others, wants it more than what he’s got.

To many, money is everything, and there is no such thing as having too much of it. "You can always collect Picassos or Gauguins if you have too much money or buy houses and objects of art, planes and cars," they make out. Others are inclined to believe that money beyond a certain point can actually complicate life instead of improving it. Wealth forces you to become a hoarder. It opens so many choices and you spend much of your time monitoring them.

How much money is enough? Different people will come up with widely varying sums. Is there an optimum amount, something qualifying for a general consensus?

The other evening, Anand, a family friend, dropped in for a drink. He’s the manager of an advertising firm. Anand has a company car and gets Rs 40,000 as monthly salary.

Dabbling in stocks and shares, this year Anand made a killing, coming out clear with a crore of rupees.

Reminiscing over scotch, he says, "As a youth, I dreamt of becoming a lakhpati. Now, strictly speaking, I’m a crorepati. Yet I find, a crore of rupees isn’t just enough."

"Enough for what?" I ask. "You can resign your job. Simply live on the interest, without touching the capital. The return will give you a regular income of about a lakh a month. Isn’t that enough?"

"Taxes will take away a sizeable part. And mind, I’ve to have a decent house in the city; the flat we live in is too cramped. A crore won’t even get us the house I fancy. That’s the paradox. By any demographic comparison, I’m rich, and yet, given everything I want I’m too "poor" to stop working. No, a crore won’t be enough to change things for me."

And then adds after a little reflection, "I suppose, it would have to be something around ten. Such a sum should assure us a lifetime of affluent, carefree living. I can then chuck my job, develop my hobbies of bird-watching, photography."

"Why ten?" I say with a wry smile. "Why not twenty? Why not hundred crores? Do you know what Ted Turner of CNN said about his becoming a billionaire? ‘Having great wealth is one of the most disappointing things. It’s overrated, I can tell you that. It’s not as good as average sex’."

"I’ve done the sums," says Anand with a certain mock seriousness. "Ten crores, that’s enough. I can manage a nice lifestyle if I ever come by that sort of money."

"Then start dabbling in lotteries not shares. Better play some of those big foreign lotteries," I say.

"No, I’m serious. Ten crores is exactly the right amount of money to have, without it becoming a burden. With five I will buy a goodly house plus the fittings and furniture to go with it. Out of the balance, I’ll buy a couple of new cars, one a Mercedes. Relatives — both on my side and my wife’s side — would be expecting expensive gifts. Some money will go to my favoured charities for the disabled. And the family is bound to indulge in a spending spree, jewellery and clothes, as the money arrives. That leaves roughly four crores to be invested in government-backed zero-risk savings and bonds, preferably the tax-free ones. This should yield a monthly income of about Rs 3 lakh."

"Rs 3 lakh a month is lavish living," I interject. "To an average Indian, that’s a staggering sum."

"No, it’s just enough for an affluent, carefree living, when you take out the taxes and reckon with inflation. Enough for a comfortable style of living, plus some high-class entertaining. Two foreign holidays in a year — travelling executive class and staying in five-star hotels. And mind, we’ve two teenage sons who have the potential of acquiring expensive tastes."

Not that professionals like Anand are money-driven, but nevertheless they have come to associate certain amount of money for achieving their conception of the magical level of wealth. To them, big, well-furnished houses, imported cars, all sorts of gadgets and white goods, holidays abroad, and children indulged lavishly are simply a part of everyday basics. They are forever pushing up their lifestyles. No wonder, a windfall of Rs 1 crore isn’t deemed enough by Anand and those like him.

Of course, there is another — fast diminishing — group of professionals who belong to the India of 1950s, when people worked hard to assure themselves of a "good life": a decent house, an annual vacation in the hills, sound education for children, and an occasional dinner at home for friends.